MONTANA STATE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



PROPAGATION OF GAME FISH 



P.y 1»K. r. ir. Treece 

 Fit hi ^Issisttiiil ill ('li(ir(ir of Fish Jlatclurirs, ]\'(st( in Division 



I 



Dr. I. H. Treece 



'N the future let Montana sportsmen I'esolve to plant fish 

 and not dump them. During the last biennium covered 

 by this report, the state fish and game commission has 

 made unusually satisfactory progress along the line of prop- 

 agation and distribution of game fish. There has been a 

 material increase in the number of eggs collected and in 

 the number of fish planted. Yet, of greater impoi-tance, is 

 the education of sportsmen in the intelligent planting of fish 

 in their localities. Time was when but little attention was 

 paid to the distribution of fish after they had been cared for 

 at the hatcheries for months. Expense to the commission 

 and other agencies was for a time forgotten and as a result 

 much of the work of propagation was lost. Results are now 

 being obtained with intelligent propagation in conjunction 

 with intelligent distribution. 



If the avei-age individual knew something of the time,, 

 labor and money required to bring fish to the planting stage 

 it would give "food for thought" when he received a consignment of fish for 

 planting. 



The first step in the propagation is, of course, the collection of the eggs. In 

 our spring work this season usually starts about the middle of April and runs 

 for two months. There is quite an expense connected with this in addition to 

 much labor and under weather conditions usually anything but ideal. 



After the eggs are collected they must be packed for shipment and this re- 

 quires much time and careful handling. The cases in which they are shipped 

 must be specially constructed in order that they may be kept cool and 

 transported under the most favorable conditions. 



In recent years we have been having success in shipping green eggs. 

 Formerly it was not thought practicable to do this and the eggs were 

 placed in a hatchery erected at the spawming station and kept until they 

 reached the eyed stage before shipping to hatcheries. 



To be able to ship the green eggs is a saving in expense and 

 much more efficient. Now a crew of five or six men handle the 

 work at our largest spawning field and each day pack and ship 

 the eggs collected to hatcheries where they have the attendants 

 and equipment properly to care for them. ,* 



Last season the loss upon arrival ran from three to ten per 

 cent, depending upon the distance and the amount of handling 

 enroute. This m itself is a record when one considers 

 that under the most favorable conditions with the 

 hatchei-y at the spawning field the first loss or pick- 

 off usually amounts to about the same percentage. 



From the time that the eggs are first received 



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